Intracranial hypertension

Intracranial hypertension (IH) is high pressure inside the skull, which may happen suddenly or build up gradually over time

Key Information

Content produced by Your.MD

What should I do?

If you think you have this condition, you should call an ambulance or go to the hospital immediately.

How is it diagnosed?

Your doctor might suspect intracranial hypertension based on your symptoms, and findings by examining you and your vision. Imaging such as computerised tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) might be required to diagnose the condition. You might also be offered a lumbar puncture to check the actual pressure by inserting a needle in your lower spine.

What is the treatment?

If you are overweight, it is important that you lose weight.

Aside from this, the treatment for intracranial hypertension depends on the underlying cause. Your doctor might discuss different treatment options with you:

Steroid tablets can help with visual problems.

Regular lumbar punctures can be used to drain the excess fluid around your brain and spine.

There are medications that can remove excess water from your body and reduce the production of fluid that circulates around your brain and spine.

Your doctor might also discuss surgical options with you if the medication has no effect.

Intracranial hypertension (IH) is high pressure inside the skull, which may happen suddenly or build up gradually over time.

It's a relatively common condition with many different possible causes.

Acute IH occurs when the condition comes on rapidly as the result of a severe head injury, stroke or brain abscess, for example.

This page focuses on chronic IH, where the pressure inside the head has built up gradually over time. This is usually caused by an underlying disease, but sometimes there is no clear reason. It is often a severe, lifelong disease.

Chronic IH is often referred to as idiopathic intracranial hypertension – idiopathic means there is no known cause.

Note that these conditions are only linked with idiopathic IH; they are not necessarily causes.

What are the symptoms of chronic IH?

Severe cases can lead to seizures, but most people with chronic IH generally experience:

severe throbbing headaches which are often constant, worse in the morning, aggravated by straining or coughing and associated with nausea and vomiting – they are sometimes relieved by standing

changes in vision due to swollen optic nerves (known as papilloedema) – you may have blurred vision and find it difficult to watch TV or read

You may also feel drowsy, confused and irritable, and have nausea and vomiting. Occasionally, you may hear a 'whooshing' sound in your ears.

How is chronic IH diagnosed?

IH may be suspected if you have signs and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, such as vision problems and headaches.

A diagnosis of IH is made by ruling out other possible causes of the symptoms. The following should apply:

a neurological examination does not show any injuries to specific brain areas

a CT scan](/condition/ct-scan) or [MRI scan may look normal

a lumbar puncture (see below) shows that you have high pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds your brain and spinal cord

you are awake and alert

no other cause of increased intracranial pressure has been found

How is chronic IH treated?

The treatment you have depends on the underlying condition causing your IH.

If you're overweight, it's important to lose weight. This often helps reduce eye symptoms and can sometimes relieve symptoms altogether without the need for medical treatment.

Medications

You may be given any of the following medicines to treat the underlying cause and help relieve symptoms:

acetazolamide, which may be taken along with a diuretic (medication to remove excess fluid from the body)

a short dose of prednisolone (a steroid medication) to relieve headaches, especially if you're at risk of losing vision

The links above will take you to more information on these drugs, including their side effects.

Lumbar punctures

You may need regular lumbar punctures to remove excess cerebrospinal fluid from your spine and skull, and to help keep down intracranial pressure. This procedure involves taking a sample of fluid from inside your lower back using a needle and syringe.

Surgery

Surgery should be considered as a last resort if medication and weight loss fail to control your IH.

You may be offered shunt surgery, where a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) is inserted into the fluid-filled space in your brain or spine to divert the excess fluid to another part of the body.

The main types of shunt surgery are:

lumboperitoneal shunting (shunting fluid from the spine to the abdomen)

ventriculoperitoneal shunting (from the brain to the abdomen)

ventriculoatrial shunting (from the brain to the heart)

For many, shunt surgery provides long-term relief from symptoms, although there is a small risk of complications such as infection and blockage which you should discuss with your surgeon.

Rarely, if your vision is affected you may need to have a procedure called optic nerve sheath fenestration (ONSF). The surgeon will slit open the sheath surrounding your optic nerve to relieve the pressure on the nerve and allow the build-up of fluid to escape.

ONSF is very effective at relieving this nerve pressure and helping to treat problems with vision, but the amount of fluid removed is so small that it will not make a difference to the overall high pressure inside your skull and can lead to complications that include blindness. Again, your surgeon will explain all of these risks to you if you're considering this operation.

Outlook

Chronic IH is not usually fatal, but treatment can result in serious, sometimes life-threatening complications.

Many patients with chronic IH find that their symptoms are relieved after treatment, although attacks of symptoms can recur.

Chronic IH is a life-changing condition and your intracranial pressure will need to be continuously monitored throughout the rest of your life.